


Train Ride

by Emono



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: HockeyRecruiter!Geno, M/M, Single Parent AU, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, meet on a train, parent!Sid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 16:16:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12938991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emono/pseuds/Emono
Summary: Geno keeps waving and smiling at this little girl on the train every day and - wow! Her father is beautiful.





	Train Ride

Geno didn’t mind the train. He was used to the clogged Russian transit and Canada was a breath of fresh air compared to that. He’d been on all kinds of trains and busses in his travels and this was by far the cleanest he’d seen. Everyone was polite enough and kept their space. It made his trips pleasant enough that he often brought a book or relaxed enough to let himself listen to an audiobook in his mother tongue. 

 

His job as an NHL recruiter allowed him a lot of flexibility but lengthy travel fees. He was glad for now that they were sticking him in the same circuit around Nova Scotia. It was nice to have some stability for a while.

 

Geno hummed along to the last lines of violin on his headphones and leaned heavily on the pole he stood against. It was a little crowded today but he didn’t mind. There was a pause between songs when he heard it. It was a high pitched whining and hiccuping. He swept his gaze around the car and realized people were carefully averting their eyes. His heart ached in sympathy at the sound of a fussing and found the culprit in the seat in front of him.

 

Geno loomed over the seat and he realized that the sound was coming from a chubby cheeked toddler clawing at their parent’s shoulder. Their parent was desperately trying to hold onto them but the poor thing was squirming and fighting the entire way. Despite the red, scrunched up face she was an adorable little girl who couldn’t be more than two. She had thick black curls that matched the back of her father’s head and she was fair, a little Snow White. Her nails were carefully clipped but they were trying to gouge into her dad’s equally pale skin.

 

“Please, Jenny, honeybear…” The man murmured as he adjusted his hold on her. She was on the verge of a full blown tantrum.

 

Geno felt a heavy pang of sympathy. He froze when the girl, Jenny, pried open her eyes long enough to find his. He stared in surprise at her but saw the pull of her mouth and could sense the scream coming. He did the first thing he could think of and gave her his warmest smile. There was a suspended moment and he worried she was going to wail but gradually her face relaxed. She had these wide blue eyes and they blinked at him, a few tears escaping down her chubby cheeks. He smiled wider, tongue caught between his teeth, and her mouth twitched in return. 

 

Her father shifted her and Jenny broke into a smile. Her little fists relaxed in his sweater. Geno could see she was starting to really get her teeth. Her eyes dried up and she even laughed when he made a silly face at her. He wiggled his fingers at her and mouthed ‘hello’. She hesitantly raised a hand and squeezed it at him. 

 

“Thank God,” he heard her dad breathed in relief as he gentled his hold on her. 

 

The train came to a stop and the man lugged up a bag, murmuring sweet assurances to her the whole time as he made his way to the aisle. Jenny fussed a little but squeezed her hand at Geno again. He waved to her and then they were off.  

 

Geno carried that little moment in his heart for the rest of the day.

 

o0o

 

Geno wished he’d stopped for coffee. He was falling asleep in his book. The train rocked him gently and he had a close call or two where his eyes would stay shut too long and he’d tip forward. He didn’t pay attention to the new influx of people so he didn’t notice the pair of curious blue eyes that stuck to him.

 

“Hey.” It was a demand but the voice was that of a child. It was followed quickly but a firm scold but it caught his attention. Geno looked up and caught sight of the same toddler he’d seen just a few days ago. She was perched on her tired father’s lap and staring at him. She didn’t say anything else but she had the unashamed focus only a child could give to a stranger on the train. Jenny, he recalled, seemed much more content today. She had a powder blue moose stuffie clutched closer to her and her father’s arm was curled protectively around her to keep her from falling off his lap.

 

Geno dared to look more intently at her father and felt heat rise to his cheeks. He was lovely - *beyond lovely. Tousled raven curls and long lashes that framed brilliant hazel eyes. He had a full mouth bitten red and chapped, cheeks chapped from the cold. Jenny was very well bundled up in a hat and scarf and poofy coat but her father was more carelessly dressed. Geno could see where the beautiful man’s priorities lied. 

 

Jenny’s father was busy on his phone, half asleep as he was, and didn’t notice his daughter waving at Geno more insistently. Geno waved back and smiled. She lit up and wiggled. Jenny thrust her toy forward and made it dance a little. Geno chuckled and hunched down a little bit, waving a little smaller like the mouse could see him. It made her giggle.

 

Her father looked up and Geno quickly buried himself back in his book. They played that game back and forth until their stop came with her father being none the wiser.

 

“Bye, mister!” Jenny called boldly, flapping her hand toward him. He waved back but ducked his head when her father turned around. His blush deepened when he heard her father ask who she was talking to. 

 

o0o

 

This little back and forth kept happening. Geno didn’t catch the pair every day but it seemed at least twice a week or more he’d find himself being stared at by curious blue eyes. It was a fun little game and Jenny’s gorgeous father never seemed to notice. He paid full attention to his daughter of course but Geno was starting to suspect he may have been a single father. The poor man always looked so wrung out and if he wasn’t on his phone trying to juggle his schedule he was trying to catch a few moments of quiet. 

 

Geno felt such sympathy for him and was glad Jenny had decided to behave for the most part on the train.

 

o0o

 

Geno walked onto the train to squawling. He was almost taken aback by the force of it. Some little girl was absolutely *screaming. He whipped his head around and had to sort through a bunch of agitated faces until he found the source. 

 

It was Jenny’s poor face that was all scrunched up. Tears were soaking her face and her hair was wild as she thrashed in her father’s arms. Geno wasn’t sure what possessed him to do it but he hurried over to where they were sat. Her father looked ready to cry himself as he tried desperately to soothe her. The diaper bag and gym bag looked heavy and cumbersome and Jenny wasn’t making it any easier.

 

Everyone had moved away from them but Geno took the seat beside them. He shouldered off his bag and thought of every trick his mother had ever used with his nieces and nephews. He cleared his throat. “Excuse me?”   
  
  


The father shifted Jenny around to scowl at him. “I swear to God, if one more person asked me to shut her up-”

 

“No! No,” Geno assured quickly. He held out his hands. “Let me try? Maybe change good.”

 

The father looked baffled. Jenny wriggled around and stopped crying long enough to look at him. She immediately stopped clawing at her father and thrust her ruddy hands out at him. Her father’s jaw only dropped further. 

 

“What? Jenny, stop,” her father insisted as he tried to pull her back. She wailed louder and he went pale in panic. 

 

“I no take,” Geno promised. He eyed her father’s arms and thick thighs. “I think you could catch no problem. I want help.”

 

He watched the man visibly struggle and then sag in defeat. He reluctantly handed Jenny over and she practically crawled into Geno’s arms. Geno cradled her supportively and tucked her into his shoulder, rubbing her back as she kept crying. He crooned to her in a mix of Russian and English and soon her sobs dissolved into tiny hiccups.

 

“See? Not so bad, Little?” Geno hummed. “Just bad day, yes? No pain.” He bounced her a little and she rubbed her wet face into his shoulder. “Gave Papa big scare. Maybe thinks you’re hurt or sad.”

 

“I don’t like the train,” Jenny mumbled into his shirt. 

 

“Train is boring and takes forever,” Geno conceded. He pushed her back a little so her head laid on his other shoulder and he could look at her father. “But, Papa needs to get around, can’t be mad for that.”

 

Jenny pouted but didn’t protest. 

 

“The car battery died today,” her father said idly, still amazing at how pliant his daughter was in a stranger’s arms. “So we had to ride longer than usual.”

 

“Woke up ready to fuss?” Geno offered, the man nodded. He patted Jenny’s back. “Glad I came. Usually she’s very quiet.” The man’s eyes went steely and he backtracked. “I see you on train! She waves, I wave, usually quiet.”

 

“He’s my friend,” Jenny defended with a sniffle. Geno smiled sheepishly. 

 

“What’s your friend’s name?” his father asked.

 

“Evgeni Malkin.” Geno shifted Jenny a little to offer his hand. The man shook it and he got a little tingle from how firm that grip was. “Call me Geno. We take same route sometimes.”

 

“I’m Sidney, and this is Jenny.”

 

“Sidney,” Geno repeated with a breathy reverence. He cleared his throat. “It’s nice to meet.” He craned his neck to look at Jenny. “I give you back to Papa, you be good?”

 

Jenny nodded and easily slid back into her father’s lap. Sidney busied himself combing her hair out with his fingers. “Mr. Malkin-”

 

“Geno, please.”

 

“Geno.” He didn’t think he was imagining the pink on Sidney’s cheeks. “You don’t make it a habit to stare at children on trains all the time?”

 

“I have many nieces and nephews I miss,” Geno admitted with careful English. He didn’t want the guy to think he was weird. “I see baby and I smile. Sometimes smile back. Little here always smile back and wave. I work with kids mostly in Russia, coach lots of Littles in hockey gear. Now I work with older boys, all fighty and mean, no longer babies.”   
  


  
Sidney’s brow furrowed as he tried to piece that together. “You work with teenagers?”

 

“Yes, yes.” That word was always difficult to put back together in English from Russian. “I recruit with NHL. My job to go look at all bratty boys. Not fun like baby players.” It was a good natured ribbing because Geno liked to get to know all the boys he scouted out. They were mostly good kids but they were chock full of hormones and liked to fight at the drop of a hat.

 

Sidney’s eyes went a little distant. “That sounds exciting.”   
  


  
Somehow he felt as if he’d offended the man. “I enjoy.”

 

“I used to play hockey. I was pretty good,” Sidney admitted with a tight throat. He wiped Jenny’s cheeks with his sleeve and she allowed him. “That was forever ago though.”  
  
  
  
“What you do now?” Geno pushed, hoping to clear some of the shadow in his eyes. 

 

“I teach and coach hockey at the high school I went to,” Sidney stated, his smile coming back. “The kids are great even if they are moody teenagers sometimes.” 

 

“All kids good kids,” Geno chuckled. “At end they want to learn. That most important.”

 

Sidney smiled more genuinely at that. Geno preened and Jenny smiled weakly at him, eyes drooping. Sidney rubbed his daughter’s back with a soft noise. “You tired, honeybear?”

 

“Yeah,” she croaked. Sidney expertly dug into his bag and pulled out a juice box.

 

“Let me?” Geno offered kindly. Sidney nodded and handed it over so Geno could pop the straw through the plastic. “Drink slow. Cry very much, Little.” 

 

“Thank you,” Jenny yawned. She took a few tiny sips when her father put the straw to her lips. When she was done she slumped into Sidney and seemed to drift off.

 

“She tuckered herself out,” Sidney joked as he fixed her coat up further around her neck. “Thank you, Geno. I think she would’ve cried all the way home.”

 

The train booped and Sidney’s head perked up at the sound of Cole Harbour. “Oh! That’s us. Thank you for everything.”

 

“Here.” Geno hurried to stand up first and take Jenny so Sidney could shoulder both bags. Jenny didn’t so much as stir as she was passed back into her dad’s arms. “Be careful go home.”   
  


  
“I will, thank you.” Sidney’s gaze lingered on his own. The shuffle of bodies leaving the doors sparked him into moving and he hurried to follow the flow out the sliding doors. Geno basked in the warm feeling in his gut and sat back down.

 

That went more smoothly than he’d ever imagined. He felt accomplished 

 

o0o

 

Geno and Sidney found each other quite a few times after that. Jenny seemed to be on her best behavior when he was around and he was grateful for that. Anytime he could make Sidney’s day easier was a good day. They talked about each other’s lives and Geno liked to call them friends. The way his stomach twisted up when Sidney smiled told him he wanted more than that.   
  


“Jensen Lee Crosby!” Sidney snapped when Jenny ran onto the train without him, dark bangs getting in her eyes as she whipped her head around. She found Geno and made a beeline for him.

 

“G!” she squealed as she tried to climb up on the seat beside him .

 

“Little, you cannot run from Papa,” Geno scolded even as he plucked her up and put her in his lap. He tapped her nose pointedly and she pouted. “No sad lip. You scare Papa and that’s not nice.”

 

“You’re right,” Jenny admitted with a sigh. She batted her big blues at Sidney when he sat down beside them. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

 

“Don’t do it again,” Sidney scolded lightly, ruffling her hair. He flashed a smile at Geno. “How are you today, Geno?”

 

“Day much brighter now that favorite family is here.”

 

Sidney loud, honking giggle made Geno light up. It was the cutest thing he’d ever head.

 

o0o 

 

Geno found Sidney and Jenny later that week looking beyond exhausted. Jenny couldn’t even keep her head up. The poor girl was curled around her father’s bulky duffel that Geno knew doubled for hockey practice and school work. Jenny’s own bag, all bright lime green and adorned with ugly orange butterflies that Geno knew Sidney hated, was tucked under the man’s arm.

 

“Hard day?” he asked, sitting gingerly beside them.

 

“Something’s wrong with the car,” Sidney muttered, eyes closed and head tipped back against the window. “The babysitter cancelled last minute on me. It’s a long walk, and I think Jen’s getting sick.”

 

The exhausted confession pulled at Geno’s heart strings. He dared to reach out and take Sidney’s hand, wanting to comfort but fearing the worst. Sidney’s eyes fluttered open and he rolled his head toward him. A smile came warm and slow across his face and he squeezed back.

 

“I walk home,” Geno offered. Sidney frowned and Geno cleared his throat. “You and Little, let me walk you home? Heavy bags, empty stomachs, is no fun.”

 

Sidney’s smile grew and he laced his fingers with Geno’s. Geno rubbed a thumb over the back of his hand and wondered if maybe he could convince Sidney to let him buy him lunch. 

 

“I’d like that a lot.”

 

Jenny stretched out and her heel dug straight into Geno’s ribs but he only laughed. 


End file.
